Friday, January 15, 2016

First Finish of 2016

 

Woohoo! Hallelujah! I finished a quilt!! Doesn't it feel good to pull that new quilt out of the dryer and imagine the life it will have? I know that may sound dramatic, and I'm not comparing quilting to childbirth by any means, but seriously, the sense of accomplishment is so satisfying isn't it?


I started this quilt last year with Barb. She hosted a bow tie block exchange. I was strong and resisted the urge to join in but fate came calling when Barb needed a last minute fill in. I was thrilled to have a second shot and took it immediately. I sewed up my little bow ties and mailed them off to Barb. I then sat by the mailbox for two weeks waiting for them to return. Just kidding. Sort of.


When I got the envelop in the mail I was so stinking excited. It was even better than I dared to hope for. The bowties were so pretty! And I immediately began sorting them and trying different arrangements. Eventually, I settled on a rainbow setting and then I went through weeks of border dilemmas. I bought several options, none of which worked.


Then last week I walked into my local quilt shop and right there on the first shelf was the new Hoffman Challenge Fabric. It screamed, I'M THE ONE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!! (Fabric doesn't scream at you?) And I bought two yards without even looking at the blocks. It was exactly what these blocks had been waiting for. The fabric is printed digitally. I only know that means that the colors and shades of color are unlimited unlike traditionally printed fabric. I have no idea how they do it, but it's pretty dang gorgeous isn't it?



After I added the borders and made the backing. I quilted it using Barb's large fan template. It was fun to use for machine quilting, now I know I must find a project to hand quilt with it!

So there's my first quilt finish of 2016! I hope you like it as much as I do.
Diane

PS. Thanks again Barb!

19 comments:

  1. Hi ! Hi ! Congratulations Diane ! You made a gorgeous quilt ! ;)
    Champagne !!! ?

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  2. Wow. Its fabulous. If you ever tire of it I can provide a loving home lol...

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  3. Yes, fabrics do talk to you (maybe not scream)😜 The border is perfect and so is the quilting design.

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  4. That border fabric was PERFECT! Love this quilt and the fan quilting!!

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  5. That border fabric is the perfect one. Your rainbow bow ties are scrumptious and worked up so wonderfully together. I just finished using Barb's big fan stencil too. It's a good one.

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  6. I love this! So gorgeous! BTW, I ordered 4 quilt books last night :).

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    1. And I have successfully corrupted yet another quilter... LOL
      I hope you enjoy the books!

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  7. Beautiful. And it IS the perfect fabric for the border!

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  8. Depending on how completely a spinal block might work, and the complexity of the finished quilt, I could envision childbirth and a quilt possibly inhabiting the same universe of difficulty -- I'm thinking of the Shenandoah Botanical quilt particularly. Love your bursting-with-color quilt!

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    1. Okay, I laughed so hard that I may have snorted. You are too funny! And thanks for a seriously good giggle. :)

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  9. Hooray! It looks fabulous! the border prints are great and the fans look fan-tastic, ha ha.
    But truly they do. How was machine quilting the fans? did you reverse or knot off? Just curious. It goes really fast doesn't it? You'll hand quilting it too -
    great post - will you post the quilt on FWB on FB?

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  10. Great quilt and I'm jealous it is only half way through January and you already have a finish!!! I am still working on the backing for a quilt I started a year ago...so my quilts seem to take longer than my children to appear (and some of the quilts have caused me as much blood, sweat and tears as the girls did too!!). Now I need to get back to appliqueing on the backing for my quilt so I can get it on the frame and get it quilted!!!

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  12. Beautiful!!!! I am truly inspired!

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  13. Love your bow tie quilt... it's fantastic!
    Did you participate in the broken dishes??

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